Third Party Watch

The following is part two of our interview with Libertarian reform blogger Tim West, founder of Liberty for Sale. Part one of this interview was published earlier today.

TPW: Is it more important, in your view, to reform the party’s platform or the party’s strategy?

Tim West: You can’t do one without the other. Reforming the [...]

The Green Party’s National Meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma kicks off on Thursday. For highlights of what will be happening, click here.

Green blogger Ken Sain reports on a look back at the 2004 elections. Green Party candidates received 2,292,924 votes combined last year.

The Libertarian Party’s membership drive toward 5,000 new or renewed memberships by [...]

The following is the first half of our interview with notable Libertarian reform blogger Tim West, founder of Liberty for Sale. The second half of the interview will be published later today.

TPW: What has been your past involvement in the Libertarian Party?

Tim West: I’ve been in and out of the LP since I was [...]

The Constitution Party’s almost-legislator from Montana, Rick Jore, has decided he will refuse to pay his opponent’s legal fees.

If you’ll remember from last year, Jore was first thought to have been elected to the Montana state house, then there was believed to be a tie and the Governor attempted to appoint him to the positon, [...]

This is just a quick note to draw your attention to the fact that we’ve added a few new links to the site. Chris Bennet’s “Blogging From The Black Side” as well his Liberty Consulting group. Also new to the links section is the Libertarian Reform Caucus, and (added a few days [...]

As a part of our series this week on the Libertarian Party and current efforts to reform it, we present this little bit of history.

Below is a paragraph taken from the Vermont Libertarian Party’s newsletter from back in 1998. At the time, one of their state-wide candidates had come very close to capturing 5% [...]

Independent candidate for Texas Governor, musician and author Richard “Kinky” Friedman, has a solution to tighten our border with Mexico. Don’t be so quick to dismiss his campaign, though. According to Politics1, Friedman has outraised and outspent the leading Democrat in the race by roughly 2-1. The Republican governor and his strong [...]

It looks as if Missouri Secretary of State (in the early-90’s) Judith Moriarty, a Democrat at the time, has switched parties and plans to run for governor in 2008 as a Libertarian. The problem? Moriarty was forced from office in disgrace.

An exclusive from the always excellent Politics1.com…

Our third party sources come through [...]

Dr. Carl Milsted, Jr. is the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Buncombe County, N.C. and a founder of the Libertarian Reform Caucus. Presented below is part two of our interview with him, part of our on-going series that explores current efforts to reform the Libertarian Party.

TPW: Of the various reforms that you call [...]

The Libertarian Party is about to launch a Cafe Press store and is seeking product suggestions and submissions from members. Click here to read more.

Thomas Ness was the Green Party’s nominee in 2000 for Michigan’s 12th Congressional District. He finished in third place with about 1.7% of the vote, ahead of a Libertarian and Natural Law candidate.

Now, Ness is back. Sorta.

Stephanie Angeline Loveless, formerly Thomas Ness, is considering another run for office in 2006.

From The Daily Tribune [...]

As a part of our on-going series on efforts to reform the Libertarian Party, we had the great pleasure and opportunity to interview Dr. Carl Milsted, Jr.

Dr. Milsted is the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Buncombe County, N.C. and a founder of the Libertarian Reform Caucus. Presented below is part one of the [...]

The Libertarian Party could be a tremendous force for good in American politics if only it could get over itself. Many within the party have begun to wake up and see the simple truth. Substantial reform is going to be needed if the LP is to ever be a viable political entity!

That’s why [...]

He’s my favorite candidate so far this year, and it’s got nothing at all to do with his politics…

Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion, running for New Jersey Governor, has the craziest and most entertaining website of anyone that I’ve seen running for office in 2005.

Be sure to stay tuned to the site this week. In addition to our regular flow of news and nonsense, we’ll be taking a closer look at the Libertarian reform movement through a handful of interesting articles and interviews.

Also, if you haven’t checked it out yet… the Encyclopedia still needs a lot of work! [...]

A Green was appointed to serve out the remainder of a term on the city council of West Reading, PA. He will very likely be re-elected in the Fall to a full term as he has the nomination of all parties:

“I’m honored to be selected to serve the residents of West Reading,” said [...]

Former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik, who was hospitalized with chest pains earlier this week, has released a statement on the Libertarian Party website. In it, Badnarik says that his health issues will in no way affect his plans for a 2006 campaign and his fight to continue spreading the word of the [...]

This is a strange story from the St. Petersburg Times. Apparently, a man named Larry Pendarvis is trying to sell a small piece of land on eBay, specifically a 5 acre island that he owns. His goal is to get at least $69,000 from the sale so he can help fund his attempt [...]

Rasmussen reports that Russ Potts, independent candidate for governor of Virginia, is polling at 4%. This is pretty well in line with most polls that have showed him hovering around the 5% mark.

A powerful liberal group called Progressive Minnesota endorsed the Democrat in this year’s St. Paul mayoral race. The Green Party candidate [...]

Two Libertarian Party of Palm Beach County officers were arrested by police during a recent “Operation Cease Fire” gun buy-back event.

From The Boca Raton News:

Two West Palm Beach officers told LPPBC Chairman Karl Dickey he would be arrested for trespass if he did not leave the property immediately, according to Dickey.

‘’We were there with cash [...]

On Monday, former Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik was apparently hospitalized complaining of chest pains.

After all the usual diagnostic tests had been run and he had entered a 24-hour observation phase, Badnarik stated that he was feeling just fine and looking forward to getting back to his life’s work of “Lighting the fires of [...]

Jason West , the Green Party mayor of New Paltz, NY was to stand trial for his role is performing illegal same-sex marriages. However, it now appears that trial will not happen.

From The New York Times: “The Ulster County district attorney dropped charges against the mayor of New Paltz, N.Y., yesterday for marrying same-sex [...]

Matthew Unger is the chairman and founder of the new American Centrist Party. We had the opportunity to ask Mr. Unger a few questions about his new party and where he hopes to take it in the future.

TPW: Tell us a little bit about the American Centrist Party.

Matthew Unger: Right now the ACP [...]

From the Southern Independence Party’s pretend Confederate Government comes this “important” court ruling:

The Constitutional Court of the Confederate States of America, on June 28, 2005, after examining the issues involved in the United States Supreme Court, considering the issue falsely termed “Separation of Church and State” has rendered its judgment in the matter. The U.S. [...]

Ken Sain, an excellent blog for those interested in the Green Party, published some background information on the Independent Green Party of Virginia.

As I am someone who has previously confused the Independent Greens with the real Green Party of Virginia, it’s nice to see accurate information on this splinter group being put out to the [...]